A variety of hand tools have been devised over the years for facilitating removal of one member from another. Criticality in design of such tool has been particularly addressed in the electronics industry due to problems such as pin alignment, contamination, fragility of parts and the like.
An example of a hand tool particularly designed to remove an integrated circuit package from a circuit board is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,974,556, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. The tool, however, involves both a sliding and clamping action and appears to require two hands to operate.
Another example of a hand tool for removing circuit packs from a printed circuit board is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,034,202, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. The tool operates somewhat like tweezers with each tweezer arm provided with an end adapted to melt the solder securing the pins of the pack to the board whilst gripping the pins for removal of the pack from the board.
Yet another tool particularly adapted for inserting and removing electrical contacts from rear release connections is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,351,109, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. The tool features a pair of pivotable arms that spread apart when contracted together at the opposite end.
Still another tweezer-like tool for removing pin components from a circuit board is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,389,912, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. The arms of the tweezers are shaped or provided with hooks for grasping the edge of the pin holder when the arms are contracted together and optional additional pins are provided that extend through the arm and trap the pin holder between the pin and the hooks.
Finally, yet another hand tool for pulling fuses is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,475,283, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. The puller involves a pair of resilient arms that operate to grip the fuse holder when compressed together for insertions and removal.
None of the above tools, however, operate in the manner provided by the tool of the present invention which is simple and economical to manufacture, is easily operated by one hand, and is not only provided with jaw members for providing support as the cover is removed by the tool but is also provided with biasing means adapted to impart a resilient clamping force against the sides of the cover when contracted to minimize damage thereto in addition to preventing the jaws from engaging the cover when in a relaxed condition to facilitate removal of the cover from the tool.